Repossession

[Lassiter]

Coruscant. The more time Sena spent on the planet the easier it was to forget about Prakith. Well, not all of it but the planet had certainly left a distinct residue of bitterness on things. All that doom and gloom with so little for entertainment. Not even a family reunion could wash the feeling off. It had for a bit but it all reverted back like a bad feeling in your stomach that just hungered for entertainment. In a sense it felt like one those feelings that you just couldn’t get rid off, but a few things worked as long as Sena kept on doing the one thing that truly made her feel happy.

Repossession.

Problem was that not all people would agree that her methods of doing such things were particularly nice -- or legal. Then again, little about pickpocketing, shoplifting and general thievery would be considered as such. In fact it was very frowned upon by, well, everyone. To Sena though the problem wasn’t that she was doing it. No, it was because for some reason she had started getting caught a lot more often. Perhaps it was just the Coruscanti authorities that was willing to actually perform their duties, or maybe, just maybe, Sena had started to get sloppy.

A gentle shake of her head had that idea sent down the trash. No, Sena was good, just not good enough to tackle the Coruscanti thievery standards. Her eyes shot out from the speeder as it approached their destination. She had been handed over to two familiar faces that kept coming to pick her up from that tiny cell at the precinct.

It was her and two associates. Their destination? [member="Darth Nephthys"].

Sena leaned back into the lonely backseat. The leather squawked and she raised her finger in protest. She was about to voice her displeasure at this convenience.

“Don’t.” One of the men cut her off just as the first syllable was about to slip off of her tongue.

Her head arched down into an even more displeased stare as her hands landed flat in her lap. Had these men not outranked her she would have been furious. But they did, and she wasn’t. Oh this was not going to end well. What was this, the third time this month?

The speeder eventually came to a stop.

“Get out.” The driver placed her in the middle of the landing pad as he had so many times before.

“Your ‘friend’ will meet you here shortly.” The other man stared Sena down.

“I know how this works, thank you very much.” She glared at the two men before getting out of the transport.

Not a word was spoken as she remained on the platform. A hand reached up to fix her hair into something more respectable as she eyed the steps that her ‘friend’ would without doubt be coming from in silence.

The part where she had to wait was the worst part.

 

[Darth Nephthys]

The wait would be a long one.

'Shortly' is a relative term. One that would be used to teach a lesson as much as representing just how low on the rung [member="Sena Lassiter"] and the importance taken to retrieve her.

When the Hounds of Vahl finally came; the length of wait would be the last thing in Sena's mind.

Hounds of Vahl have been part of the Ember of Vahl since Darth Isolda's rise to power within the cult. Utilized in their early days to strike fear and wrest control of small holds away from non-believers they play a certain status role within the cult.

They were trackers for the High Priestess and the Chosen. That they so came personally to collect Sena was a chilling situation indeed.

 

[Lassiter]

A second became a minute, a minute an hour. Yet it wasn't until the hounds made themselves seen and without their master that she knew things was going to be bad. The hours had just become years. The cold gazes of the loyal subjects of the High Priestess chilled her to the bone.

She let out a nervous laughter before her underlip tucked into a pursed bite. Despite her best attempts to keep the breathing steady she couldn't help letting it get out of hand. Her heart beat like crazy, and the noise from her breathing amplified. If there ever was any clear sign that Sena had messed up this would be it.

[member="Darth Nephthys"] was nowhere to be seen. It was just Sena, the hounds and a few metric tonnes of shame. Had this been any other person she would have run away but something about this woman -- despite being shorter than Sena -- demanded her to stay, obey and listen.

Just not all the time, evidently, or she wouldn't be in this mess to begin with.

With a shaky voice she questioned the hounds. “Where is she? Are you taking me to her?”

No need to mention names. It wouldn't help her feel better at all.

 

[Darth Nephthys]

[member="Sena Lassiter"]

The Hounds of Vahl would not talk. Instead a low growl would rumble from the one flanking to the right of Sena; a warning.

Silence.

Her release would be forthcoming, and not ten minutes later they would escort the young Corellian noble towards a speeder. The tension would continue to rise like a thickening cloud. To be tracked by a Hound of Vahl was not something to bat an eye at. Utterly loyal to their Priestess, many One Sith have seen just what were the horrifying and devout lengths they would do at a mere order from the Chosen of Vahl.

What would be Sena's role now?

A question to mull over certainty, for having caught the eye of the Ember of Vahl.

For now Sena had time to ponder her Fate as they would lead her to a speeder. Their destination, the Temple of Vahl.

 

[Lassiter]

A growl. That’s rarely a good thing. If ever there was a time to think of excuses this would be it. However, judging by the mood of these beasts and the mouth-shutting panic they induced the time for talk had passed already.

Moving from one backseat to another she placed herself in the very middle once more. If there was one thing she never got used to it was that unfamiliar burn that told her she had been bad. Some would boil it down to regret, but truly it wasn’t. She very much was content with what she had done. It was just the things that was about to happen that scared her. The disciplinary actions of these people weren’t exactly known to be pleasant. Few disciplinary actions ever were.

Gazes darted around the very corners of her eyes. Maybe if she couldn’t see them they wouldn’t be there. Maybe if she looked upon the cityscape outside there wouldn’t be any reason for them to do anything. It wasn’t much of a comfort that the Temple of Vahl could be seen in the distance.

Most likely it was their destination and the spot upon which Sena’s ‘fate’ could go either way.

Electrocution, force draining, choking or quite possibly all of them at once. At the end of this day she would be feeling the effects of her actions one way or the other.

The rest of the trip remained quiet. A lonesome sigh parted her system. She had really done it now, hadn’t she?

[member="Darth Nephthys"]

 

[Darth Nephthys]

[member="Sena Lassiter"]

Coruscant
Manarai Mountains
Temple of Vahl

What Sena did or did not do was no longer an issue.

No. Her purpose, her Fate would take her onto an entirely different path. Little did the Corellian know that in here she stood in a crossroads. A choice.

The lights of the city's towers would soon start to wane, leaving the skyscrapers behind. Their route took them beyond the Twilighter section and towards what area of green had yet still survived upon the city planet.

The Manarai Mountains.

Here, where the Monks of the Flame of Umate formally lavished their prayers and devotions, stood the grandiose and gothic Temple of Vahl. It contained meditation chambers, atriums, and deep within the inner sanctum reinforced with turadium steel and the entirety of the sanctuary carved out of nihil smokestone, to include a sacrificial altar that would carve paths onto the floor where the blood price to the Goddess would river through.

It would pulse and writhe with the miasma of the cult of the Terrible Glare, where the souls and blood of hundreds of thousands of prisoners and vessels had been sacrificed for the Bogan Goddess Vahl, an embodiment of the destructive nature of the dark side of the Force.

Here, Sena would be introduced to the Ember of Vahl.

Here, her fiery tests would determine if the woman child would live up to the path scryed of her future.

 

[Lassiter]

The comforting lights of civilization died out and in it’s presence came a deafening ringing in Sena’s ears. There was something coming, she felt it. Like the first time she had experienced the wrath of her former mentor. Being insolent and in general just not obeying. It took her a long time to just stop doing it and go back to being some sort of obeying little servant.

Now here she was at the base of a mountain looking up at the Temple of Vahl. She could feel the darkness radiate itself. It was as if the souls of the people lost to time warned her not to go there. A part of her wanted to listen to it but where there was danger there were rewards and something just told her to go on. That something at the top of this mountain was hers to be claimed if she had the will to reach for it.

It was a test and a punishment. At least from Sena’s perspective. This was what she had to do to prove herself to those above her. To prove her worth and show them that she was not afraid of what would come next. A deep breath and she took the first few steps up the great staircase of fate.

She could do this. She had to do this. She continued her climb up the stairs.

[member="Darth Nephthys"]

 

[Darth Nephthys]

Coruscant
Manarai Mountains
Temple of Vahl

Crimson eyes would drop to peer upon the distant image of One of Two ascending the steps. Darth Nephthys, vessel of the Eye of the Dark Lord's petite form would be barely recognizable among the dark grey and slate of the stone and monuments that surrounded the Temple of Vahl.

Around her, there was a thrum of energy in the air that would thicken like miasma. The closer [member="Sena Lassiter"] would ascend to the Temple, the stronger that connection and that tar like cling would drape upon the acolyte.

It was a curious sensation. As hair neck raising as it was exciting - a familiarity that would beckon upon the pit of the belly, deep down where an abyss would stir an inner voice ready to whisper a greeting. A reminder of a path perhaps led once upon a dream.

Her pale doll like expression would wait in silence, flanked by a thick straight fringe of black hair. By galactic standards, the Vahla Darth would appear as if a child.

But she was anything but that.

 

[Lassiter]

Movement was slowed down but she pushed forward. The air got thicker and a distressing calm fell upon her as she kept on going. She had to see her Master and accept the punishment for her actions. It could be seen as weird to some but there were some things that Sena simply did not question. For example punishment was a consequence to getting caught. While it certainly could have been avoided by just not breaking the law there was something so intoxicatingly great about it and Sena was not one to skip on responsibility and face consequence. It was simply how it all worked. She had been breaking the law on purpose and been fully aware of what the consequences would be, to wave it aside as “I don’t have to because I am special” would just not be right at all. Unless she was the Queen of Coruscant, but she wasn’t.

The trail had been long, at least it felt like. She reached the final set of steps upon the staircase and let herself turn away for a moment to look down upon the base of the mountain as the wind turned her hair into a short disheveled -- yet dignified -- mess. Strands of hair whipped against her cheeks and eyes welled up to keep the cold air from straining her eyes. The thickness of the air probably had two reasons to it at this point yet with a deep breath Sena tried to muster what remaining courage she still had.

With a few more steps up the path to her master her vision eventually peeked over the top of the staircase to set itself upon a child-sized woman in the distance. The waves of bad feelings had reached it’s peak just as the mountain had. She took a step forward in a mind numbingly, ear deafening, heart beating silence. It was just Sena and her heartbeat at this point.

Kneeling down in submission to [member="Darth Nephthys"] was all she could do. No talk, no words. There was just silence and for the first time in a very long time: Regret.

The moment of truth was rapidly approaching but was Sena ready? No, she was not.

 

[Darth Nephthys]

[member="Sena Lassiter"]

The silence was thick with tension. Pregnant. Full. Expectant.

The howls of the high arctic winds went gusting through the temple with an eerie wailing sound, almost ethereal. As if the voices of the dead and those who were sacrificed still would linger, as well they should, across the taint that was the Dark Force Nexus from where Sena lay herself prostate on.

Crimson eyes would peer upon Sena with stoic scrutiny. She would search beyond the veil, through the fog of negative emotions currently seeping from the woman.

There was a fire in her. One that perhaps would seek a measure of guidance. Her blood was muddled. Unpure. But in it bore the testimony of Her people.

Her Fate.

// Child of Vahl. You latch on to our wandering ways. Ever searching for purpose. A home. //

It was a statement. An observation. Much of the Vahla had stumbled into constant wandering for their lost homeworld. What Nephthys said may very well become lost to Sena, but it held a ring of truth to it.

// You have purpose, young one. What is it? //

 

[Lassiter]

The tension grew more manageable for each second that passed as the young scoundrel set her worries aside to the sounds of the wind’s whistle. Perhaps it was because of the chill it provided or perhaps it was because it drowned out the noise of her own heartbeat; the ever present reminder that she was still alive even as the elements whipped at her cheeks. She remained unmoving and unflinching as strands of hair time upon time again struck itself along the edges of her eyesight. As odd is it may have been she found a small amount of comfort in the discomfort it provided.

It hadn’t exactly been the first time they met like this but something within the young Sena had her reconsidering what choices she made. A part of her screamed for more of the excitement and to go out there and see how much more trouble she could cause, yet a whole other part of her was slowly starting to think twice on it. She had a home now and as much as she could have been trying to put distance between herself and her ties to the One Sith there was no doubt to anyone that once you actually got involved then you got involved, and with [member="Darth Nephthys"] nonetheless, then you had already attached that ball and chain yourself. To fight the idea was pointless at that stage and in Sena’s case it was probably for the best to just give in. To drop all pretentions of being some sort of exception to the unwritten rules.

A sigh parted her lips the carelessly prying stare of her master burned thick through her bones. She needn’t see it to know it was there, those red orbs were the most terrifying yet respect-inducing things known to her. In a sense it still had her head spinning that somehow Sena of all people had managed to prove herself worthy enough of her Master’s attention but the why or how was still so very lost on her. If she knew of the blood running through her veins she would have found the answer, but she didn’t.

Then the hard hitters came. What was Sena’s purpose? She had a home, but for all she knew she had no purpose. At least none that she could think of since the sole reason she had set out on the trip that promptly ended on Prakith was to find that purpose. She was to visit the parts of the galaxy that she found intriguing and then see where it took her. Perhaps with that said there was something to be learned, but could it really be that simple?

“My purpose…” Her eyes scanned the floor as if looking for the answer. “... Is to find somewhere I belong.”

“I want to find a family.”

It wasn’t necessarily family in the same kind of way she shared a bond with Velda as much as it was a constant struggle to find a place where she truly could feel at home and as if she belonged and in a sense the Ember of Vahl felt close to that but caution had her hesitant to truly embrace it.

“I want…” Hesitation kicked in. Her eyes closed and she took a deep breath to fight it. “To become one of you.”

[member="Darth Nephthys"]

 

[Darth Nephthys]

[member="Sena Lassiter"]

Bright orbs of crimson would study the younger Vahla with an almost choking silence. They would seemingly go through the woman, as if weighing the validity of her words. Seconds would tick past, the silence pregnant. Expectant.

Finally, as if whatever the Vahla found was to her satisfaction, Nephthys gave a nod.

// Then rise young one. //

Her voice would go echoing within Sena's head, a quiet but powerful voice for one as diminutive as her.

// Your faith will be tested. Cast upon fiery tests to ascertain your commitment. //

There was no going around this. It had to be done.

// You must prove yourself to the Goddess; and in this show the strength of your faith. One who holds truth shall be blessed by Her. Given her strength and wisdom that has been passed down upon to her Chosen //

It was an eerie sensation and circumstance; the Vahla's expression was completely emotionless, still. It was as if she were but a small living doll. But there was no denying the thrum of the Darkside that would lick and pulse around her.

// Do you accept this, young one?//

 

[Lassiter]

Again with the silence. There was something to it, was it the thin air or was it the current company? The hounds and their master, her master. Part of the acolyte figured the silence was her master’s addiction at this point just like Sena had her own. The silence that hung low and pulled at the ear drums. It was a play to show just how long Sena could give into submission; something she had spent her entire life practicing so why did it still feel so mind-numbingly terrifying?

At her master’s order she arose. Hands dangling by her side she looked upon [member="Darth Nephthys"] with a small token of curiosity at the mention of fiery tests. Without hesitation or a moment for second thoughts she turned to look at the eerie doll-like Vahla. It was a presence less terrifying as much as it was just plain creepy at this point.

“I accept.” Spoken like a follower who had no idea what she was signing up to. “It’s what I was meant to do.”

What she was meant to become. She had asked she had been offered, it all built up to this. Sena may not have been able to become the good guy, her needs and cravings got in the way of that. She wanted a home and she was offered one in exchange for a test. Maybe it should have terrified her more than it had, but it didn’t, they were willing to accept her into their home. They wanted her, and she wanted them, it was a shot at happiness and she would not let hesitation take that away from her.

Mind should have wandered off to ponder the tests, but she didn’t. She knew how to do it, something within her told her she could do it. It was oddly rejuvenating and for a long time she let genuine excitement seep through. She would beat these tests and make her proud, but most importantly; she’d have a home.

“I am ready, master.” She slowly nodded. “I will do this.”

 

[Darth Nephthys]

[member="Sena Lassiter"]

So her Fate will be sealed.

Or perhaps it was all in the hands of the Goddess? In this choice, this path, this Destiny?

For the briefest of seconds, the corners of the dollike Darth would curve upward. There was pride there. A knowing. It was plain to see within the crimson orbs of the Vahla's eyes.

// Then your first task is one to prove your mettle; to seek an item of worth that will temper you within the flames of the Goddess's forge. //

Therein came the first judgement.

// Find the Lorrd Artifact. // her voice would echo within the mind of the younger Vahla. Dark figures would come to the fore, stepping from the shadows as a dozen pairs of feral eyes would set their wild gaze upon the acolyte.

// ... before the Hounds find you first. //

 

[Lassiter]

[member="The Hound"]s. She had figured the tests seemingly too easy at first, but the sight of the hounds chilled her to the bone even if it was the second time she saw them during the very same day. As mere taxi valets they were daunting but as means to measure her mettle they proved far more intimidating. Once more her heart pounded at her chest as she gave the doll-like Master a sign of readiness. Sena could do this, she would handle it. She had to.

There was just that one problem.

“Where do I begin?” The question had to be asked. “Are they nearby?”

[member="Darth Nephthys"]

 

[Darth Nephthys]

[member="Sena Lassiter"]


It was then that the corners of Darth Nepthys’ mouth would give the slightest upturn curve. There was a flare in her crimson eyes; a promise.

The rare amusement that would bloom for only a few seconds enough to feel far more unsettling than her silence before.

Dark shadows would appear from around the jungles of the temple. Dry lightning flashing as more and more of those imposing and feral figures would suddenly appear across the battlements. Low growls akin to those of Kathhound would hum in the approaching night.

// Here //

Came the revelation.

// Now. //

At once, two dark figures of Hounds would from the roof would start their descent, jumping and leaping from on high at the highest point of the temple.

Sena’s trial of worth had just begun.

 

[Lassiter]

Worth wasn’t something to be measured in volume. It was the actions that would define just exactly who and what Sena would become. Of course, she wasn’t aware of that moment. For in that very moment the only thing running through her mind was just about anything but the future. The hounds, the location of the tapestries and how to find them without knowing. She knew the basics. Her master had been humble enough to teach her those before, but to use them in a situation such as these when the possibility of captivity was on the table again had never occurred to the young Corellian.

Her jog carried her towards the entrance of the grand temple. She could feel the hounds with their presence like a bad gut feeling growling at her to indicate their hunger for a new acolyte’s flesh. They were savage, they were loyal, they were vahla just like her. It would explain her pale tint, the impossibility to be the nice guy even if she tried.

Didn’t mean she was without self-hatred over what she was. A hatred that in the long run had only helped her become what she had initially hated herself for. A destructive cycle that she kept on fighting against despite failing to do so time after time again.

With a mind set on her task she made way down the grand halls. The tapestries were bound to contain some sort force signature, right? Though her ability reach out was limited at best she still paused for a second to give it a shot. A careful glance over the shoulder told of no hounds. Her hands reached for her knees as she focused.

Find the signature, find the tapestry. Her breath steadied itself as the growls grew closer. Fear had been replaced by focus. Focus on the task of proving her mettle and/or worth despite being scared out of her mind.

Then there it was. The trace she needed. In the distance, far off. The first hound rounded the corner. A guttural scream echoed around the corridor causing a spine chilling shiver to run through her entire body.

With a hurried pace she set off in another sprint for her objective. These hounds were not going to catch her. The ember within her denied them that, it was going to deny them that. She wasn’t theirs to take. There was only one person who Sena trusted, and that person was barely taller than herself and never spoke. Red eyes, doll-like appearance all around. Yes, the only one she 'trusted' was her own master.

Some would argue it wasn’t healthy, but nothing about the path she was going down was ‘healthy’ and if anything they all knew that.

[member="Darth Nephthys"]

 

[Darth Nephthys]

Dark grey clouds would streak the heavens, thunder lashing like the crack of a cerulean whip. A thick mist would billow throughout the mountains, the howl of the Hounds resonating as the hunt began.

Darth Nephthys would stand stoic, and one would wonder if she was even blinking, such was the void of her crimson eyes and that porcelain doll stare. Under that thick slash of her bangs, her angled eyes would watch the growing distant figure of her newest apprentice. What manner of thoughts would provoke within the depths of her mind were hers alone.

At least until another shadow would fall next to hers.

A pulsing miasma would seemingly curl as bare tattooed feet would walk the moist polished stone of the temple. Glistaweb silk would cling to lithe curves, what bit of alabaster flesh revealing the writhing inky scrawl that seemingly would shift under the skin, as if the demons of the nether were caught under that thin parchment of transparent flesh.

Mirrored eyes would pool like liquid mercury, and a wolfish grin would creep across the Eye of the Dark Lord's lips. The Chosen of Vahl, High Priestess of the Ember of Vahl, the one bridge to the Goddess.

And Sokara Vu Noi's mother.

Darth Nephthys would kneel in proper submission to the Chosen of Vahl, that dark satin of hair shielding her features.

"The lost one has returned." came the throaty murmur from Isolda. There was satisfaction in her tone. Expectancy. "The Goddess is pleased." she came to a stop just at the edge of the velmstone clearing.

"Rise." Isolda told her vessel, the petite woman obeying the command a moment later.

"Should she be successful, then the path that will forge and temper her will be in Her image." A soft wind would lift the dark tendrils of hair from Isolda's shoulders, a ghost of a smile dancing upon her lips.

"The Goddess will have Her Sword."

 

[Lassiter]

Her heart was beating like the drums of war with her courage ever growing. The hounds were following close by yet her fear was being repurposed into something else. Something greater. A motivation, a source of power. She was feeling her own body tensing up yet the uncertainty was gone. It was just the girl, the hounds and the tapestries. The tapestries which Sena had located. Not by sight but emotion. She had sensed them after having demanded it off of herself to find them, and in turn they had been revealed to her.

In an unexpected move there was a hound that lunged itself at her in a surprise attack from above. It was an attempted ambush to bring the girl down but she refused it. Her saber reached up and in a flurry of sparks orange plasma collided with red. Though the hound’s attack caught her by surprise she still managed to keep herself from getting burned at the added cost of her lost momentum. At the back of her mind Sena knew that she had to keep moving forward but the hound quickly followed its attack with another strike in which her saber was swatted aside and wrestled out of her hands.

The acolyte stood wide open and the opponent quickly made use of it. However, two people could play the game of opportunity. With it’s saber raised above both their heads Sena had to think quick as her hand extended itself to push the foe away with a blast of the force. To say that it was ineffective would have discredited the girl, at the very least the telekinetic burst had bought her enough time to start running again which she rather graciously seized the moment to do. The objective was the tapestries. Hounds came second.

She called for her saber and continued running down the corridor with the hound seemingly breathing down her neck. Heartbeat up her throat she ran with all that she had. Her finish line was rapidly closing in, she could feel it and before she knew any better she had entered a great chamber. The sound of the one chaser quieted down and the girl thought it safe enough to let her guard down for just the one second. Sena's hands reached for her knees as her head perked up to check each of the tapestries pieces out. It didn't make sense at the moment what the big fuss was, but her master must have sent her after these for a reason. She usually did.

As the Hounds slowly began to swarm the room there was little Sena could do but turn around. With a dozen sabers getting ignited one after another and immediately pointed towards Sena. There were either two possibilities of what would happen next. Either she wasn't done yet, or they didn't know that her test was over.

“Right, stand down. It’s over.” They didn’t listen as one after one they approached her. “Stand. Down!”

Hound after hound lunged at her in sequential order. Each attack blocked in a manner most ungraceful by the kid who had only just started her journey down her selected metaphysical path.

“Stand! DOWN!” She exclaimed as the anger inside built up. “NOW!”

But they didn't. Attack after attack grew ever closer to bringing them a hit, but still none of them did. Either they weren't giving it their all or she was getting better. Nonetheless the show just kept on going.

And Sena had nothing she could to say about that. It was just the way practice worked.

 

[Darth Nephthys]

Throaty growls would rip from their throats. Their hunched bodies would come at the young Vahla. One of the hounds stepped forward. The expression on his angular face said he wanted to be the one to take her head. A trial this would be and it would not be an easy task.

He would move with a predatory assurance, sinew and bone rippling under his armor as those fiery eyes would latch upon his prey. Finally, there was a shift in his stance, and he would lunge forward. His saber would sing with deadly intent as it would come slashing at Sena's torso.

Meanwhile, back at the temple, Darth Nephthys and Darth Isolda would start to amble back towards the entrance. An enormous pyre at least two stories high would rage in flame, crackling against the fat and bone of tributes thrown in for sacrifices for the Goddess of Vahl.

Isolda's silver eyes would cut over towards that pyre, the flames reflecting upon their glittering surface.

"Were she to fail... then she shall serve her purpose as tribute to the Goddess. By flame and fire, she will bring glory to Her name."